Joe Cocker, the English singer that famously covered The Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends” at Woodstock in 1969, died Monday. He was 70.

Joe Cocker Dies

Cocker passed away following a battle with  lung cancer, reported the BBC. “It is with the heaviest hearts we heard that our beloved Joe Cocker passed away last night,” Cocker’s agent Barrie Marshall told the BBC.

Cocker was playing bluesy rock in English pubs around the same time that The Beatles were rising to superstardom and eventually broke through himself in the UK music charts with his soulful cover of “With a Little Help from My Friends.” When Cocker performed the cover at Woodstock, he launched a following and career in the United States.

Over the course of his career, Cocker recorded 23 studio albums and 40 albums. Among his notable songs were “You Are So Beautiful,” and covers of “Cry Me a River,” Traffic’s “Feeling Alright,” the Boxtops’ “The Letter” and the Beatles’ “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.”

The biggest hit of Cocker’s career came in 1982 for his duet with Jennifer Warnes, “Up Where We Belong,” which was featured on the Officer and a Gentleman soundtrack. In addition to topping the Billboard charts, the track earned Cocker both a Grammy and an Oscar.

“He had a voice that was just unique,” said Rick Wakeman, Cocker’s longtime pal and Yes keyboardist.  “The great thing is with someone like Joe is what they leave behind, and that will be with us for years and years.”